“In addition to the constitutional issues with the bill, my personal feeling is that this bill trivializes the Bible, which I believe is a sacred text,” Haslam wrote in a letter addressed to the speaker of the state house, Beth Harwell.

“If we believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, then we shouldn’t be recognizing it only as a book of historical and economic significance. If we are recognizing the Bible as a sacred text, then we are violating the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Tennessee by designating it as the official state book,” he wrote.

Haslam is not the only government official to come out against the bill, as the state’s attorney general also violated the U.S. Constitution and the state’s Constitution.